The invention relates to isolation pods and particularly to a collapsible low cost pod for isolating a person previously exposed to a chemical or biological hazard from a safe environment, or in the alternative, for isolating an unexposed person from a hazardous environment for medical transport.
The threat to health from biological and chemical contaminants has, if anything, increased over the last several years. The popular press is full of accounts of potential biological attacks which might either be privately or state sponsored. Chemical terrorist attacks have already occurred in various areas of the world and certain governments have engaged in chemical attacks against enemies and even members of their own society. While the risks from chemical attacks are believed to be substantial, in the future the threat of biological attack may continue to increase and may become more significant than chemical attacks.
Apparatus are currently available for transporting victims of natural biological hazards. Such victims may include persons who have been infected with Ebola or Marburg virus, anthrax or the like. One such system is the so-called Vickers box which comprises a relatively self-contained unit having an external frame with a biological hazard barrier comprising sheet polyvinyl chloride sheet suspended therefrom. The frame has a foot rest or step. A lower substantially oval loading port provides access to the interior through which a patient may be carried to rest on a stretcher-like structure. The barrier has a ventilation tube entering its foot end. Glove ports are formed on the sides of the frame thereof. A pass-through port extends through the barrier near where the calves of a patient would normally rest. There are pairs of glove ports on each side of the unit. Intravenous bags and the like may be suspended from the frame of the unit. An intravenous line may extend through a port in the side of the unit. The Vickers box weighs over 200 pounds unloaded. In addition, the Vickers box is not disposable and is very expensive. It typically costs $20,000 to $30,000. When assembled the Vickers frames are bulky and the unit is simply not adapted for storage in large numbers for use in the event of a biological emergency. In addition it cannot be transported in all types of military evac vehicles.
Another approach has been taken in U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,151 to Linden. Linden discloses a transportable life support system including a base 2, a stretcher 3, and a rigid cover 4. The base may be constructed from a fiber reinforced resin composite. Medical equipment is housed within the base including a ventilator 11, an oxygen source 12 such as an oxygen tank or oxygen generator, a suction unit 13 and an environmental control unit 14. A high volume intravenous pump 23, a pulse oximetry sensor 24 a blood pressure sensor 25 and electrocardiography sensor all are relatively bulky and may or may not be needed for the treatment for the particular patient depending upon whether the patient had merely been exposed or has been infected. The environmental control unit includes means for providing contaminant-free air to the unit including at least one filter 14B, which may be a typical nuclear-biological-chemical type filter. The problem with such a unit is that it appears to be relatively bulky because of the built-in components in the base of the unit and the unit may not quickly and easily be stored in a compact configuration and may represent overkill for a variety of hazards.
What is needed then is an inexpensive easily transportable compact biological isolation system for use in isolating victims in a chemical or bioterror event.